Not to pun, but Break Your Glass Slippers is a CHARMING collection of poetry. It felt very thoughtful and empowering. I’ve always been a sucker for a fairytale, but I also strongly believe there are many types of happily ever afters. This is a road to happily ever after that I can get behind.

"You were my almost, but I'm my own forever."
I was given a copy of this poetry collection by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amanda Lovelace has quickly become one of my favorite poets. I fell in love with her "women are some kind of magic" series, and I am thrilled to see her continue with a fresh story. This collection of poems is inspiring and empowering, reminding us that every fairytale has more to the story than meets the eye, and not everything is always as good as it seems. Every princess needs to love herself first, and trust her instincts. It was an important retelling of a classic fairytale and I'm looking forward to see what she does next!

I love all of Amanda Lovelace’s collections. They always hit a spot in my heart that rings true. Self love and saving yourself was a big theme in this collection. The fairy godmother was the voice so many of us desperately need to hear in our lowest times. I hope everyone devours this collection like I did.

I love all of Amanda Lovelace's poetry and break your glass slippers, her latest really spoke to me.

The book is filled with gorgeous illustrations and lovely, poignant poems in the forms of self-realizations, notes from the fairy godmother, as well as other voices that come together in this collection to tell a story of another princess who ultimately has all she needs within her the entire time.

Modern, feminist, and empowering, the follow up to the 'women are some kind magic' series is perfect and I'm looking forward to hearing what more the 'you are your own fairy tale' series has in store for us.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Break Your Glass Slippers is what you might expect: poems that are at least semi-related to Cinderella, fairy godmothers and princes. But it's unlike what you might expect in the way Lovelace gathers the words together. The book is sectioned by a few characters: a Cinderella-esque girl falling for a boy, struggling with her self worth and who she is; a fairy godmother, who tells her the truth and gives advice, whether is hears it or not; the prince, who isn't what he seems. "Here", says the forward, "we all get to be Cinderella, our own Fairy Godmother, and best of all, our own Prince."

I read this book in one sitting, and it flowed beautifully between poems and themes and highs and lows. There were a few poems that I really loved and paused over for a moment or three, and there were others I wouldn't go back to. But on the whole, Break Your Glass Slippers was a really enjoyable short-form poetry collection.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me review this book before its publication. Loved loved loved this one. I’ve read several of Lovelace's poetry books in the past and always enjoyed them but this is by far my favorite! I think she really takes it to another level in this one. Her words throughout elicit a a sense of empowerment and strength and I think every girl should read this to know that there was, is, and will be many wolves in the future that come donned in sheep's clothing. It's the most I've identified with in a collection of poetry. A lot of the poetry I've read by Lovelace's peers seems a lot of time clingy and needy and always leaves me with an odd feeling. Lovelace here tells u that you don't need anyone for your life to have meaning. It tells you to stand up for yourself no matter who that someone you're standing up against is. It tells you that You complete yourself, and no one will do that for you. I really identified with a lot of her words here, and last but not least, loved the new approach she has taken on retellings.

Amanda Lovelace has a way of writing poetry that is relevant, deep and connects to my personal female experiences in the current social climate. The unique take on "retelling" fairytales to be empowering, feminist and strong provides a vast and refreshing collection of poems. I put digital bookmarks in at least 7 poems and am excited to purchase a physical copy to annotate and highlight.

The ARC of this book was received from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've heard wonderful things about amanda lovelace over the years, and was excited to dive into her new book of poetry. break your glass slippers is a Cinderella retelling (with parts loosely inspired by lovelace's own experiences) in which the Prince isn't so charming and the Princess finds strength, confidence, and happiness within herself.

I read some verse novels, but generally don't read a lot of poetry. As a result, I do not think I'm the ideal audience for this book. I found myself struggling at times to understand some formatting choices and to understand the decision behind certain point of view shifts (first, second, and third all make appearances here). I also felt the Cinderella connection felt muddled in a few places—with some entries not feeling tied to the tale at all and others mixing modern/fairytale elements in ways that felt a little inconsistent (talk of castles and princes alongside text messages).

Still, I think the messages expressed here are important (if a little on-the-nose) for readers to hear. This is a book that I could see resonating with me if I had read it when I was younger, and I'd definitely recommend it to teen readers (especially those who love fairy tale retellings). I don't know if I'll personally seek out lovelaces's work in the future, but I know that her readership is vast and there are many who find hope, courage, and confidence in her work. Because of that, I'd still recommend this collection to her fans and those interested in modern poetry.

After not loving the mermaid’s voice returns in this one, I was a little cautious to pick up break your glass slippers by Amanda Lovelace, but it turns out this collection of poetry was a lovely little book I greatly enjoyed. While nothing is going to outdo Anne Sexton’s fairy tales, this collection does an excellent job turning Cinderella into a series of a poems about falling in love with yourself. I also really liked the little illustrations throughout–I got a digital copy for review but I bet the print edition is quite lovely. The messages from the fairy godmother were all good reminders, and I felt the connecting theme of the book really helped strengthen the collection. I also think it’s a good balance between dark and uplifting moments. It’s definitely a brief read, but there are some lovely poems in there. Overall, I’d say that break your glass slippers is probably my favourite collection by Lovelace so far and has given me motivation to continue to pick up her works in the future.

Wow this was fabulous! I love how Amanda made the Cinderella story her own and turned it into a story of self love and empowerment. Fans of Amanda Lovelace will love her newest work!

I cannot wait to read the rest of the books in this series and anything else Amanda writes.

The illustrations are gorgeous too.

oooof, amanda always kills me in the best way. she’s a master at bringing forth emotion that i didn’t know i had, encouraging me to deal with all the crap in my life i don’t want to deal with. i’ll always buy her stuff. she’s a rare gem.

What a beautiful poetry collection!

What Ioved: The fact that it was telling story and an empowering one at that. This is a feminist take on taking care of yourself in and out of a relationship, knowing how to deal with toxic people and ultimately not putting yourself down and being defined by other people's words. Also, the illustrations were just as good as the text making me want to grab a physical copy when this gets published soon!

What I disliked: Some parts were the 'universe will guide you' type of rhetoric. It is not something I personally abide by and it makes me a bit tired to read and see everywhere. Thankfully, it did not take too much space in this poetry collection.

For the above reasons I give this a 4 star review.

I was kindly offered the ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A powerful collection of poems promoting female empowerment. There are beautiful illustrations within the book that make it that much more enjoyable. Trigger warnings included before the poems. I think this is the poetry many of us have been needing in our lives.

Thank you to NetGalley, Andrews McMeel Publishing and Amanda Lovelace for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I normally avoid poetry like the plague, but this book may have just changed this. It’s rare that I want to buy a book for all my girlfriends, yet I can see this easily becoming my default gift for a long time. Fairy Godmother gives some damn good advice.

Thanks so much to the author, NetGalley, and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog { #partner }

TW : child abuse, toxic friendships, toxic romantic relationships, sexual harassment, eating disorders, fatphobia, suicide, trauma

I love all of Amanda Lovelace's work that I have read, which is most of it. Particularly her Women Are Some Kind of Magic series is very dear to my heart. I read the first in that series, The Princess Saves Herself In This One, when I was recently out of (and recovering from) a very toxic situation, and after entering into a relationship with the amazing man that I would marry. It was a perfect time to read it, and it taught me so much about myself, and helped me work through things emotionally that even then I was ignoring.

So when I heard that she was coming out with another collection of her feminist, therapeutic poetry, and this time themed around a classic fairy tale like Cinderella, I knew that I was going to read it the second that I got my hands on it. And I did, and I loved it just as much as I was sure that I would. She turns the fairy tale details on their head - my favorite being that the Fairy Godmother is a personification of the voice we all hope for in our lives that counteracts the harmful voice in our heads, with positive, healthy, and affirming self talk.

All of this being said, and as much as I love Lovelace's work, you definitely need to know exactly what you are getting into when you pick up one of these collections. As I noted earlier, these poetry collections deal with matters related to some very serious trigger warnings. So if this is something that would be harmful to you after reading, then please make note of that. And as she states at the beginning of each of her collections - "Remember to practice self care before, during, & after reading."

Amanda Lovelace always produces such much needed poetry. Her poems about finding the ability to accept yourself and love yourself always find me whenever I particularly need them. In break your glass slippers, her poems that specifically focus on cutting off toxic family, family heartbreak, and doing things to protect mental health despite the protests of others really hit a spot for me. Yet again, she comes back with more words of inspiration to remind all of us that we need all the self-love we possibly have to give to each other. Always a recommend from me.

Amazingly, I did not hate this as much as I hated the witch doesn't burn in this one. In fact, and perhaps even more amazingly, I did not hate this collection at all.

However, for her sixth published poetry collection, Amanda Lovelace shows very little growth as a poet and as a writer. Much like her previous books, her pieces tend to get annoyingly repetitive to the point that it sort of feels like she's plagiarizing herself (but she isn't, I guess). Her poems remain contrived and insubstantial. The way she explores themes, such as body image issues, mental health, and (white) feminism, is still really surface-level.

In addition to these shortcomings, I can't help but notice the astonishing lack of metaphors in Break Your Glass Slippers, which is really odd for a collection that's a loose reimagining of Cinderella. I expected a lot more creative parallels and metaphors, but instead, I was given really bland, really preachy poems. The "fairy godmother says" pieces were, in my opinion, the worst because, aside from coming across as incredibly preachy, they also seemed inorganic and forced.

I think that, in comparison to her previous works, Break Your Glass Slippers isn't Amanda Lovelace's worst. However, this small poetry book isn't memorable at all. For the most part, I felt utterly bored and unimpressed.

This one isn't for me, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.

A completely novel approach to the Retelling genre.
For those of us who grew up loving fairy tales but always craved more.
This fits perfectly with Lovelace's Women Are Some Kind of Magic Series, which is high praise in itself.

I often say that we tend to be much kinder to the people we love than we are to ourselves.
We would never say half the stuff we tell ourselves in our worst moments to our loved one - and isn't that really telling?

This book is like a conversation with a loved one, it strips away the harshness we often inflict on ourselves and softens the edges, soothes the hurt.

I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of this series.

Disclaimer: This review is not sponsored. This review is not sponsored. I was given an e-ARC of the book by the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Three words for this collection: Consistent, Amazing, Powerful

Consistent – I really admire how Amanda Lovelace keeps her writing style so consistent. If you’ve read her previous poetry collections, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. But for those of you who haven’t yet, she laces her words with emotions from different points of realities and experiences. For me, the important thing about a poetry books is relatability. When a poet connects to their readers through their words, we create magic. And Amanda Lovelace has been creating magic for a long while.

Amazing – Her books always showcases some of the most beautiful illustrations. These set the vibe for how she tells her story. This book had one of the BEST illustrations I’ve ever seen in a poetry collection.

Powerful – Empowering people, especially women, has always been an ongoing theme on her poetry. Yes, women hurt and bleed — but they’re stronger than what we think. When I think about Amanda Lovelace, I always think about power. Not just the power of words, but the power of knowing your weakness so you can make it your strength. This book holds a lot of power, and I really think you should read it!

I always thank NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for my monthly fix of poetry books. Through them, I discover new poets and keep on loving the poets that I’ve been rooting for since day one.

With a foreword by Nikita Gill, this book talks about the things we don’t always pay attention to. I ended up wanting more, and clearly, Amanda Lovelace has done it again!

Amanda Lovelace is back at it and blowing us all away again, this time with her new collection of poems Break Your Glass Slippers. Given away in the title, one can assume that this new collection of poetry is twisted and themed around the fairy tale Cinderella. Focusing on empowering women and enchanting us all with her words yet again, Lovelace succeeds in reminding us all that we are Cinderella, and that are Fairy Godmother might be closer than you realize.

Every time I pick up new work by Lovelace I keep thinking she's told me all I need to hear, that she can't possibly amaze me anymore than she already has... and every single time I am wrong. That being said, I would highly encourage everyone to take the trigger warnings at the front of this collection (and all of her others) very seriously. Lovelace always manages to bring me to tears and back again - always feeling stronger and more empowered than I was before.




**I received an ARC of this collection in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity**